diff --git a/plugins/scanners/fossid/src/main/kotlin/FossId.kt b/plugins/scanners/fossid/src/main/kotlin/FossId.kt
index dd1e28847f142..08ec9e1746958 100644
--- a/plugins/scanners/fossid/src/main/kotlin/FossId.kt
+++ b/plugins/scanners/fossid/src/main/kotlin/FossId.kt
@@ -87,6 +87,8 @@ import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.enumSetOf
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.replaceCredentialsInUri
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.ort.showStackTrace
 
+import org.semver4j.Semver
+
 /**
  * A wrapper for [FossID](https://fossid.com/).
  *
@@ -700,7 +702,9 @@ class FossId internal constructor(
             // Scans that were added to the queue are interpreted as an error by FossID before version 2021.2.
             // For older versions, `waitScanComplete()` is able to deal with queued scans. Therefore, not checking the
             // response of queued scans.
-            if (version >= "2021.2" || scanResult.error != "Scan was added to queue.") {
+            val currentVersion = checkNotNull(Semver.coerce(version))
+            val minVersion = checkNotNull(Semver.coerce("2021.2"))
+            if (currentVersion >= minVersion || scanResult.error != "Scan was added to queue.") {
                 scanResult.checkResponse("trigger scan", false)
             }
 
@@ -739,7 +743,11 @@ class FossId internal constructor(
                     // stays in state "NOT FINISHED". Therefore, we check the output of the Git fetch to find out
                     // whether the download is actually done.
                     val message = response.message
-                    if (version >= "20.2" || message == null || !GIT_FETCH_DONE_REGEX.containsMatchIn(message)) {
+                    val currentVersion = checkNotNull(Semver.coerce(version))
+                    val minVersion = checkNotNull(Semver.coerce("20.2"))
+                    if (currentVersion >= minVersion || message == null
+                        || !GIT_FETCH_DONE_REGEX.containsMatchIn(message)
+                    ) {
                         return@wait false
                     }
 
diff --git a/plugins/scanners/fossid/src/test/kotlin/FossIdTest.kt b/plugins/scanners/fossid/src/test/kotlin/FossIdTest.kt
index 80e53e78ef047..3a8ac7ebdf43c 100644
--- a/plugins/scanners/fossid/src/test/kotlin/FossIdTest.kt
+++ b/plugins/scanners/fossid/src/test/kotlin/FossIdTest.kt
@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@ import org.ossreviewtoolkit.plugins.scanners.fossid.FossId.Companion.SCAN_ID_KEY
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.plugins.scanners.fossid.FossId.Companion.SERVER_URL_KEY
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.plugins.scanners.fossid.FossId.Companion.convertGitUrlToProjectName
 
+import org.semver4j.Semver
+
 @Suppress("LargeClass")
 class FossIdTest : WordSpec({
     beforeSpec {
@@ -95,6 +97,13 @@ class FossIdTest : WordSpec({
 
             fossId.version shouldBe FOSSID_VERSION
         }
+
+        "return a comparable version" {
+            val fossId = createFossId(createConfig())
+
+            Semver.coerce(fossId.version)?.isGreaterThan("2020.2.0") shouldBe true
+            Semver.coerce(fossId.version)?.isLowerThan("2023.3.0") shouldBe true
+        }
     }
 
     "convertGitUrlToProjectName()" should {